SBLs vs. PSLs, pushing young talent, London and the 49ers’ expectations: York and Singletary talk

* Transcripts of the post-event media sessions with Mike Singletary and Jed York are included.

But first, just a few highlights from the 49ers’ second annual State of the Franchise event last night, and the post-game chatting with York, Singletary and Trent Baalke…

-Big theme of Singletary’s throughout the night: He wants to get the younger players into action faster than in the past, if they’re talented enough.

Remember, he was the guy pushing for Chilo Rachal to see more time as a rookie two years ago (Singletary’s partial-interim year), and there have been other such instances.

Now he has Anthony Davis, Mike Iupati and Taylor Mays, among other rookies, and I think his intent is to pile-drive over any of his assistants’ cautious approach with these guys.

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-I had to go through the tape of York’s session to figure out what he was implying about the 49ers’ losing a home game to play in London this year.

He told the crowd, and then us later, that he felt great about London, because the Giants and Saints played in London games recently and the Giants won the Super Bowl that year and the Saints won it last year.

But there’s a slight problem with that conclusion, which I’m sure Jed knows:

* The NYGs weren’t the home team in 2007 vs. Miami, so they didn’t lose a home game (as the 49ers do this year), and in fact the Giants basically gained because they got a neutral-field game instead of a road game. And won.

* The Saints were the designated home team in 2008, won the game over San Diego, but didn’t make the playoffs that year.

They won the Super Bowl last year, which was 2009.

* Tampa Bay was the designated home team last year vs. New England, and Tampa went 3-13.

If you include the 2005 game in Mexico, with Arizona as the home team and the 49ers as the road team, the four international-game “home teams” have combined to finish 17-47 in those seasons.

Losing a home game HURTS. Add in the lost time due to travel and international diplomacy… this will be something for the 49ers to overcome, not celebrate.

* It’s more complicated, so I understand why York doesn’t use it as his sales line (and I understand him using the other bit, too, even if it doesn’t really m ake sense)… Miami and New Orleans both had major success the year AFTER giving up the home game.

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Miami went 11-5 in 2008 and won the division. New Orleans went 13-3 and won the division and Super Bowl last year.

But it’s not too thrilling for Jed to say, “We might suffer for losing the home game this year–it really could pay off in 2011, though!”

-Judging by York’s answer to Maiocco’s question, it seems clearer than ever that the 49ers probably will not be finalizing a long-term extension with Vernon Davis for a while.

The 49ers did the Patrick Willis deal. Not Davis. Hmm, where did I see someone say that a few months ago? Someone who got mocked for saying it? Geez, wish I could remember.

– Read what York says about the Stadium Builders Licenses concept for the proposed Santa Clara stadium.

—MIKE SINGLETARY, post-event gaggle (some editing for length)/

-Q: You said you didn’t want to talk about it so much, you just want to do it this year. Is that a change in approach?

-SINGLETARY: I just feel that our guys throughout the OTAs, the mini-camp that we had… I sensed that our guys are ready, mentally, physically. We put the work in. A lot of guys have been here even though we’re supposed to be off. Our rookies have been doing great things.

I’m just ready to get going.

-Q: Do you approach it differently as a coach with more expectations?

-SINGLETARY: No, I’m still going to do what I do. I think it’s important that now the guys like Patrick, guys like Vernon, Takeo, Alex… you know those guys are coming forward and saying, ‘You know what, Coach, can we possibly not do this or do that?’ And I’m going to listen.

Sometimes I’m going to disagree. But I want to let them know that this is their football team. And it’s going to work because they’re going to make it work.

We’re not going to try and come up with a lot of different things, a lot of different X’s and O’s. We’re not going to outsmart ourselves. We’re not going to be cute.

We’re going to work and we’re going to work hard and we’re going to earn the right to win.

-Q: What did you mean when you said the coaches might have to adjust to the younger players?

-SINGLETARY: What I meant by that is in order for some of these younger players to play, sometimes a coach has the attitude of, ‘You know what? He can’t play because he doesn’t know the whole system.’

Well, how much of the system do we need? Do we need another player in there, a veteran player in there, who maybe does not have the talent level? Or do we put that guy in there and maybe he doesn’t know all the plays, but the plays that he does, we’re a better football team because of that?

So it’s just finding that thin line. And it is going to be thin because the competition’s going to be high at just every position. I’m very excited to see how we derive at that level.

Fortunately, these guys that we brought in, they have great study habits. Great character guys. And they work hard.

-Q: Do you expect Aubrayo Franklin (who hasn’t signed his franchise-tag tender yet) to report with the veterans on Saturday?

-SINGLETARY: I expect him to be here. But if he’s not, it’s not going to be an issue with me. It’s going to be the same as I said last year. I’m going to focus on the guys that are here. I’m going to focus on what I can control. If Aubrayo is not here, Aubrayo’s not here.

We’ve got to keep working and Aubrayo’s got to work it out with management.

-Q: Have you spoken with him?

-SINGLETARY: I have not.

-Q: Based on your off-season program, who’s your starter at right tackle and left guard?

-SINGLETARY: Based on the off-season program, it depends. It could be Snyder. Right now that would probably be the name in my head that I think Solari would say, ‘I think it would be him.’

-Q: And left guard?

-SINGLETARY: At left guard, right now it’d be Dave Baas.

-Q: How do you get the team to understand there’s still a leap to take?

-SINGLETARY: That’s the last thing I have to talk to this team about. Going 8-8 last year, going .500, OK great. But they know as well as I do that we did not accomplish that we felt that we could.

There are just some things… I don’t want to go through we could’ve, we would’ve… we didn’t get it done.

They’re hungry. These guys want to go to the next level. They want to be a championship team. And they know it. They know that they can be. That’s the exciting part.

[CUT]

-Q: Alex Smith’s name wasn’t mentioned for 90 minutes tonight. Was that almost a good thing because he’s been such an issue for so many years?

-SINGLETARY: I think Alex… I’m very excited about what I’ve seen, as well as the coaching staff, as well as our players. It’s very nice to hear that ‘Wow, Alex has really done a really great job stepping up. He’s really doing a great job getting the ball to the receivers. Getting the ball out of his hand.’

You hear the coordinator, you hear the other coaches, you hear leaders on the team rally around him. And his work ethic is second to none. That’s very gratifying.

-Q: You mentioned you think this team is as talented as anybody. Do you feel a different responsibility with this team because of the talent?

-SINGLETARY: I think my job is to make sure that the coaching staff understands the level of detail that we have to get to and make sure that we challenge our players to get there. Find a way to get there.

And not sit back and say, ‘Well, this guy’s too young, this guy’s too immature, this guy’s that…’ No, I don’t want to hear that. Let’s figure out a way to make it work.

If the kid wants to play and he can play, let’s figure out a way to bridge that so he can play. I want the best guys on the field. That’s our challenge.

—–JED YORK, post-event gaggle (some editing for length)/

-Q: You said you won’t have PSLs, you’ll have Stadium Builder Licenses. Can you explain that?

-YORK: Some of the teams when they’ve done PSLs, they haven’t been the lifetime of the building. They’ve been a short period of time. The Stadium Builders License will be the lifetime of the building.

It’ll be access to other events. You’ll have a lot of different rights and different things. Transferable rights. You’ll be able to pass them down to your kids… You’ll be able to sell that right. That’s a much, much more valuable asset.

-Q: Is the plan to have the licenses for 100% of the seats?

-YORK: We haven’t finalized a plan. So there’ll definitely be different pricing. We want to make sure we evaluate whether or not we do the entire building. When we look at an asset that an SBL brings, you don’t have to have a high price.

When you look at the Giants, the Giants had $1,000 PSLs in the upper deck. Those are the first things that went and you saw them trading on the secondary market for 5 or 10x.

So there’s a value to those things. We want to make sure we give the right value to the fans and we have the right pricing model to be able to move forward and be able to finance the building.

-Q: Do you have any active talks with the Raiders about the possibility of sharing a stadium?

-YORK: It’s part of the term sheet that that’s open for possibility. But Mr. Davis and Amy are working on trying to do a mixed-use project at the Coliseum site, and that’s by far their No. 1 focus.

We’ll keep communications open even if it’s just sharing ideas on construction costs, some of the things with the buildings which we always continue to do.

But that’s not something… we’re not having active discussions.

-Q: At the end of the 2008, you famously sort of guaranteed that the team would make the playoffs in 2009. This team is more talented. Any guarantee for 2010?

-YORK: Our goal is always to be in the playoffs. And I think we’ve said that. It’s up to our team to take that next step. We’re taking the right steps.

When I look at playing the game in London, I look at the teams that have done it in the past—you look at the Giants, you look at the Saints—they’ve gone out there, they gave themselves a playoff atmosphere.

Those are the things we’re trying to do.

We expect to be in the playoffs every year. That’s what we’re going to do this year—we’re going to go out there and the goal is to win the division.

-Q: Is the talent there?

-YORK: I think we’re always considering ourselves a playoff team. So we absolutely hope that we realize our talent on the field. The bar is being raised. I think you heard coach say that.

I think you know what my expectations are. My expectations are five Super Bowls in 13 years, maybe 12 years. It’s a high bar. Our coaches know, our players know, there’s a level we need to achieve.

-Q: It’s tough to do long-term extensions because of the labor situation. You don’t know what the rules will be after this season. You’ve done Patrick Willis’ extension. Is the uncertainty keeping you from doing other extensions?

-YORK: My belief is that the NFL is going to be here for a long, long time. Whether you’re talking about stadium financing, which is a 30 to 40-year process, whether you’re talking about extending your players, which we obviously did with Patrick…

It’s not going to preclude us from anything. That’s our philosophy. Our philosophy is to draft good players, get young talent in here and make sure that we extend that talent.

We want to make sure we add to our talent base and keep our talent base here.

-Q: What’s the priority list—Vernon Davis, how big of a priority is it to get him extended long-term?

-YORK: There’s a lot of guys that are priorities for us. But we want to make sure that we take things one step at a time.

We want to make sure that there’s conversations with agents and if there’s a deal that both sides agree to, with whoever our players are, we want to make sure that we lock up our young talent.

-Q: Did it bother you at all when Scot McCloughan took a job with Seattle, a division rival?

-YORK: No, I wish Scot the best and I’ve said that. I care about Scot a lot. I consider Scot a friend. I wish him the best of luck. I think he’s going to do a good job. I know what a good talent evaluator he is and I wish him the best.

-Q: The fact that it’s Seattle means nothing?

-YORK: The fact that Scot is working doesn’t surprise me. I think Scot, coming from Seattle, I think it makes sense for him. He knows a lot of the people there.

Whether he’s scouting against us or not scouting against us, that doesn’t bother me.

Tim Kawakami

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Great to hear Singletary’s stance on younger players. That was a Nolan thing that absolutely killed the team – he just wouldn’t play young guys. Goldson should have been playing over Roman a couple years ago to name just one. Hopefully this means Mays gets on the field soon if he proves he can make plays.

slimman

The London game is a disaster for whomever gives up a home game. The league needs to address the issue, but making $$$ is more important than parity for them….

TIM

Slimman :
The Niners think that the game in London will give the team a playoff atmosphere. Sorry that the fans miss a home game but we expect an extra home game or two this season because of home playoff games. The playoff atmosphere of the London game will help get the team ready for the huge pressure of their first playoff games since getting to the NFL.

Big Suede

I think the london game also brings in more revenue that a regular home game…. wembly seat 100k and then they receive all the merchandising that goes along with it..

I kinda wish Al Davis would jump on the new stadium- that would ensure that both teams stay in the bay area for the rest of our lifetimes without the constant worry that LA is going to lure them away